It has emerged that the Law Reform Commission (LRC) questioned in 1994 whether Oireachtas members were covered by legal protection from being sued when issuing written statements, as opposed to making verbal statements, in the Dail or Seanad.

Dr Eoin O'Dell from Trinity College Dublin . . . a legal expert on defamation . . . this weekend said that the issues in the LRC report were applicable to the written statement issued by McDowell in response to a written Dail question last December from independent TD Finian McGrath.

McGrath had asked the minister to outline his views on 'recent attempts to undermine [the Centre for Public Inquiry (CPI)]' but McDowell used the written reply to elaborate on claims that Connolly, a director of the CPI, had previously 'travelled to Colombia under an assumed identity with a known subversive'.

Parliamentary privilege, which allows TDs and senators to make comments without the fear that they may be sued, is enshrined in Article 15.12 of the Constitution. However, the LRC report noted that the precise wording covers only official publications and 'utterances', and therefore would seem to exclude written statements, which are not actually read out.

O'Dell told the Sunday Tribune that the issue raised by the LRC report has not been resolved and the question still exists as to whether a written statement such as the one used by McDowell to attack Connolly is covered by privilege.

Connolly has previously declined to say whether he would take legal action against the minister, although he has criticised McDowell's Dail claims as a "grave injusticef and veritable witchhunt". A spokesman for McDowell said that the minister was "one of the most eminent barristers in the state."

Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Jim O'Keeffe, last night said that the system of answering parliamentary questions would benefit from a review. He said there may be a legal problem when ministers provide an answer to a Dail question in a letter to TDs. "I have always operated on the basis that any Dail reply, whether written or oral, enjoys absolute privilege. However, it is not clear where parliamentary questions are answered by way of a letter from a minister, and that reply does not go on the Dail record, whether that letter has privilege, " O'Keeffe said.